Magma PCI Expansion Alternative?

[Detlef Brockmann]

Originally Posted by rojocinco

YES,YES,YES!!!!!
I got it tonight after a large 800km travel to visit a man who has a Virtua via running with protools, We tryed changing components to discover that the touble is the power supply, Virtua Via is sending inapropiate power supply to work with Digidesign cards. now with a new power supply is working at the first attemp in my MacBookPro 17" of 2006.
Let´s sohow you a photos:

[img=http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/7125/lafoto1v.th.jpg]
[img=http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/333/lafoto2p.th.jpg]
[img=http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/7408/lafotof.th.jpg]

hm...I have tried two power supplies (one 550watts and one 420watts) and they both didn't work.
Can you tell us the model/brand of your working power supply?
I also see that you are using it with a MacBook Pro. I want to use the expansion unit with a MacPro.
Cheers, Detlef.

[hart07]

Originally Posted by Detlef Brockmann

hm...I have tried two power supplies (one 550watts and one 420watts) and they both didn't work.
Can you tell us the model/brand of your working power supply?
I also see that you are using it with a MacBook Pro. I want to use the expansion unit with a MacPro.
Cheers, Detlef.

Yes me too i want to use this virtuavia kit with a mac pro last geberation ( nehelem) year : 2010.

This virtuavia kit would work with my new mac pro , i want to put a pro tools hd pci ( 32 bits ) a core card + accel card in this kit , and connect it to my new mac pro ( nehelem).

This configuration would working ?
Which power supply and atx box i have to buy ?
otherwise i have to wait a magma in second hand market.
thks

[noah330]

So does anyone know what power supply works? Is it 500w, 700w???

[fasttraxx]

Originally Posted by Detlef Brockmann

hm...I have tried two power supplies (one 550watts and one 420watts) and they both didn't work.
Can you tell us the model/brand of your working power supply?
I also see that you are using it with a MacBook Pro. I want to use the expansion unit with a MacPro.
Cheers, Detlef.

Detlef,
I was wondering if your computer or HD cards could be an issue. The reason is, I have been looking into expansion chassis and came across a post of problems with magma and HD cards. It looks like the newer Westmere MACs and Pro Tools HD core card (I believe it's the core card), particular version rev K core card don't work with Magma chassis. Avid knows of the issue and say they will exchange rev K cards for free to fix this issue. Not sure if it helps your journey, but just thought I would share this with you. (see link below)
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t...ighlight=magma

I know you didn't try a Magma chassis, but maybe the Virtu Via acts the same way.

[fasttraxx]

I just talked with Nate over at Magma and was told that the only Magma chassis that will work correctly with Pro Tools is the PE6R4 or PE6R4I.
He said this is the only chassis that will run 64bit. He said Pro Tools PCI-e and PICx cards are 64bit. (I always thought PCIx cards were 32bit).
He said if you use any other chasis you will be running at 32bit and have latency issues.
The older model chassis that some are getting and upgrading with new controllerboards will have the same issues.
Now, this is what I have been told. I know alot of guys are using various configuartions and seeming to like them, so I don't know from using one, only sharing the info.

[JANE]

Hi all, I've been reading all info I've found about the virtuavia pci expansion kit, I've bougt one and I have the same troubles some of you have had. Can anybody that have gotten the frankenstain alive share the specs, brand, etc of the power supply you are using?

[gravol]

I'm running a HD3 in a external ATX chassi with the VirtuaVia 4 PCI ATX expansion card. It works fine in 10.6.8 with PT 9.04, dont know about Lion yet.

The easiest and immediate trick to get the VV expansion card up and running without any hassle is to go with the Corsair TX750 PSU, i tried other PSU's i had laying around from earlier Pc builds and none of them got it working even though they were all rated over 500W which is what VV claims to be sufficient.
After some online research i found a thread where someone had success with the Corsair and bought it = instant power up and recognition by OSX, passed DigiTest, recognized and stable in PT. I have the PCIe card installed in the slot closest to (above) my graphics card in my Mac Pro (2008 Dual Quad 2.8 Harperton)

Also when you put the HD cards in the expansion chassi make sure to connect the Flexcables (between the HD cards) from port B on your Core card to port A on your Accel card and then the same from Accel to Accel if you have a HD3. It's the correct way in order to connect your DigiLink cable to the Core card and avoid PT start up errors that it cant find any connected hardware.

So this system is totally usable and stable if you do it right and with the right gear, i spent a total 460 euros for the VV expansion card kit, a 19" rackmountable ATX chassi and the Corsair PSU. That's great value compared to the super overpriced Magma's.

Hope this can help someone and clarify some stuff, i had no help whatsoever from VirtuaVia, i seriously wonder if they ever check their email. Thankfully there's forums like this to get help when stuff doesn't work right..

/Ola

[kevin2012]

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[JANE]

Hi Gravol, thanks for your reply. I think I found the trick!. By reading posts and talking to afriend who has the virtuavia running, I thougt that the problem with the power supplys was the specs about the max current output, (+3.3v 30A. +5v 30A, +12v 62A... in the corsair tx 750, +3,3v 30A,+5v 32A,+12v 24A in my friends psu), so

I purchased a cheap 600w psu capable of +3,3v 38A, +5v 44A, but it woudn't work, so I returned it. My thoughts then were that the psu wasn't giving correct voltage,

I bought a better psu, this time a NOX Sonar 580w, it's specs are: pfc active, +3.3v 24A, +5v 24A, 4 rails of +12v 16A. It seemed weaker than the others, and what happened is that the chasis with one Pro Tools card powered up ok, with two cards, the psu turns off when powering up. I read in a post that somebody had attached a hard disk to the chassis and I tryed and put two hdds. Surprise! the chassis powered up, the mac powered up, the system recogniced the bridge, the cards and Pro Tools work!.

After all this I think that the trick is to make the psu work harder, I noticed tha in the box of the psu is stated that a minimum power compsumtion is needed, so if only the virtuavia board is dragging current, it's not enough for the psu to work propperly.

Hope this helps!

Cheers!